There’s a certain swing-for-the-fences feel and a hurried nature that I think you have when you’re making your first record and have much to prove. Now that I’m in a higher gear, I don’t have to press so hard on the gas, and I’m loving it.
John Mayer, Billboard 2003
Hello guys, welcome to another new idea I’ve been throwing around after last week’s favorite song post. I want to add into the mix talking about albums that I love. This week we’re gonna start with one of my favorites of my early twenties, John Mayer “Heavier Things“.
Let’s talk about my relationship with Mr. Mayer. I discovered John Mayer around 1999/2000 when a friend of mine from college gave me this mixed CD (remember those?) with all of his acoustic stuff. Most of it was off his album “Inside Wants Out” which he released in 1999, and also had some live acoustics songs as well.
I was instantly hooked. You know that feeling when you listen to a song and you react with “OMG is this person following me around and writing about my life?”. Yeah, it was instantaneous that feeling. I was obsessed. I picked up “Room for Squares” when it came out in 2001 and I’ve been a Mayer fan ever since.
So fast forward to September 2003. I’m in my first semester at NAU, and kind of trying to adapt to being away from home for the first time. I picked this up the day it came out and it proceeded to be the ONLY thing I listened to for an honest straight month. I just connected with so many songs on this album, they just spoke to where I was in life at the time. Even now when I listen to it, I get flashbacks to Flagstaff and being 22 all over.
Heavier Things came out on September 9, 2003 by Aware and Columbia Records, and was Mayer’s second studio album. The album has mostly positive reviews, and debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200. It also has an aggregate score of 67/100 on Metacritic. The album had three singles: “Bigger than My Body“, “Clarity“, and “Daughters” which would be John’s first #1 single. He also took home two Grammy’s in 2005, one for Best Song of the Year (“Daughters”) and for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
HEAVIER THINGS TRACK LIST
- 01 – Clarity
- 02 – Bigger than my Body
- 03 – Something’s Missing
- 04 – New Deep
- 05 – Come Back to Bed
- 06 – Home Life
- 07 – Split Screen Sadness
- 08 – Daughters
- 09 – Only Heart
- 10 – Wheel
Now, here are some of my favorites tracks:
CLARITY – Mayer said he wrote this song about those first few minutes after you wake up, where you forget all of your problems. Not gonna lie, this is possibly my favorite John Mayer song. It’s introspective, conveying the weight that worries have on you. I also feel that it also portrays a sense of trying to find your place in the world. One of my favorite lines: “is there a second of time I looked around, did I sail through or drop my anchor down“.
BIGGER THAN MY BODY – Mayer wrote this after attending a Coldplay concert, about his frustration with not being able to get the music out of his body. To me it’s about someone on the cusp of greatness who not only wants their chance to shine, but is willing to do anything to prove themselves. Favorite line: “Someday I’ll be so damn much more, cause I’m bigger than my body gives me credit for“.
SOMETHING’S MISSING – During my time at NAU, I had a MAJOR quarter-life crisis and this was a song I kept coming back to. This is a song about loneliness while trying to figure out your place in the world. It’s hauntingly sad and just spoke to the experience I was having when I didn’t have the words. Favorite line: I can’t be sure that this state of mind, is not of my own design. I wish there was an over the counter test, for loneliness, for loneliness like this.
HOME LIFE – I love the electronics on this song. This one is about John’s desire to have a home life that doesn’t revolve around being on the road all the time. It absolutely speaks to that want of having normalcy and something dependable. It’s bouncy and fun, but filled with honesty. Favorite line: “And I will go to my grave with the life that I gave, not just some melody line on a radio wave“.
SPLIT SCREEN SADNESS – This is honestly one of the saddest breakup songs and it gives me the feels every time I hear it. They’ve broken up, but he’s not angry or bitter…he doesn’t say one single mean or cruel thing about the girl in this one. You can hear the sadness in every word. This is absolutely one I’m gonna feature in my favorite song series because it just kills me. Favorite line: “”All you need is love” is a lie ’cause we had love but we still said goodbye now we’re tired, battered fighters“.
Alright, that’s it from me. Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving, and wear your damn mask!
Mixtape-Postcards 